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Airbnb / Short-Term Rental Calculator

Analyze STR profitability and compare against long-term rental

📘 About This Calculator

Short-term rentals can generate significantly higher gross revenue than traditional long-term rentals — but they also carry higher operating costs, more management overhead, and more volatility. This calculator models the full STR economics (nightly rate × occupancy × days, minus all operating costs) and shows you the break-even occupancy where STR beats a long-term rental on the same property.

🎯 Key Metrics Explained

Average Daily Rate (ADR)

Average revenue per booked night. Use AirDNA, Mashvisor, or local Airbnb listings for your market. Expect ADR to fall 10-20% in off-season.

Occupancy Rate

Percentage of nights the property is booked. Top STR markets hit 60-70% annual occupancy; new listings often start around 40-50%.

RevPAR

Revenue Per Available Rental night = ADR × occupancy. The single most useful "pricing + demand" metric for benchmarking.

Break-Even Occupancy

The occupancy % at which STR net cash flow matches your long-term rental baseline. Below this, convert to LTR. Above it, STR wins.

💡 Tips for Realistic STR Analysis

🏘️ Property Purchase

Set to 25% of price (editable)
STR loans often carry 0.5-1% higher rates than conventional
Furniture, linens, kitchenware, photography, listing setup

📈 Nightly Revenue

Top markets: 60-70%. New listings: 40-50%.
Drives turnover count and cleaning costs
Fee charged to guest at booking (passes through to cleaner)
Airbnb host fee ~3%. Vrbo ~5-8%. Direct bookings 0%.

💰 STR Operating Costs

STR rider typically 20-50% higher than standard
Electric, water, gas, trash — host pays in STR
Toiletries, coffee, paper goods, batteries, etc.
What you pay your cleaner. Difference from guest fee is your margin/loss.
STR maintenance runs ~1.5% of property value annually
Full-service STR management: 20-25% of gross. Self-manage: 0%.
Furniture wear is higher with STR — replace every 3-5 years

🏠 Long-Term Rental Comparison

Enter what this property would rent for as a traditional long-term rental. We'll show the break-even occupancy — the point where STR overtakes LTR.

LTR maintenance: ~1% of property value annually

💡 Rule of Thumb

STR typically needs 50-65% occupancy to match LTR net cash flow. If break-even is above 70% for your market, LTR is the safer play unless you're in a proven tourist destination.

STR Investment Summary

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Annual Revenue & Expense Breakdown

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Break-Even Occupancy Analysis

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STR vs LTR Comparison

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